Guarding Matanzas Inlet
Posted by: 
Markerman62
N 29° 43.166 W 081° 14.152
17R E 477188 N 3287720
Located in Southeast Intracoastal Waterway Park at 8295 FL A1A South
Waymark Code: WM18HNP
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 08/06/2023
Views: 2
In front of you beyond the marsh grass, flows the Matanzas River, an arm of the ocean beginning just to the south at Matanzas Inlet. Even in its earliest colonial days, this river was an important water approach to the Spanish town of St. Augustine, 13 miles to the north. Spain established the town in 1565. The building you see in the distance is Fort Matanzas, a unique fortified watchtower, standing today as a quiet sentinel of times past. As early as 1569, wooden watchtowers were built in the vicinity to keep an eye on the river approach to the town. In 1740, the Spanish began construction of a stone fort built from coquina, a local sedimentary stone composed of mainly mollusk shells. Fort Matanzas guarded St. Augustine's "back door" for eighty years of service and is the last remnant of St. Augustine's colonial outer defenses.
Marker Number: None
Date: None
County: St Johns
Marker Type: Roadside
Sponsored or placed by: St. Johns County
Website: Not listed
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